“Children ask better questions than adults. “May I have a cookie?” “Why is the sky blue?” and “What does a cow say?” are far more likely to elicit a cheerful response than “Where’s your manuscript?” Why haven’t you called?” and “Who’s your lawyer?“” Fran Lebowitz
“Can I have another squaaaaaaare pleeeeeeease?” You know the cookies are good if that’s what you hear literally reverberating through the house; even better if it’s the call from the dieting diva square after square! These were indeed GOOD …Dark Chocolate Caramel Oat & Almond Shortbread cookies!
There’s something about December, and something about cookies that make me want to bake; bake all the time actually even though power cuts continue to play spoilsport. Baking around silly powerless situations means more cookies since there are fewer chances of them ‘deflating‘ {unlike cakes} when the lights go off!
The wookies were fabulous for fast track ‘faux baking‘. This shortbread is too, non traditional as it may be. You can’t go wrong with shortbread, caramel and dark chocolate, can you? A combination inspired from many shortbread posts, especially this Chocolate Caramel Slice from Nash @ Plateful, and a ‘Month of shortbread baking‘ from Julia @ ‘Mélanger :: to mix’.
This is the season of holiday baking, and only good could come out of such delicious inspiration. GOOD DELICIOUS COOKIES! Winter is the only indulgent time of the year here when shortbread feels ‘guilt-less; you need the butter to keep you warm after all. Warm weather the rest of the year makes the crumb not keep together nice and crisp! For the record, this isn’t true shortbread; the traditional version doesn’t venture away from a 8:4:2 classic combination of flour, butter and sugar… and a dash of salt perhaps.
I had on hand hungry kids, butter and a ‘want to bake’ feeling; also a loose bottomed square tin that I had recently bought and was impatient to use. That resulted in … Oats + Almonds + Flour + Butter + Brown Sugar = Crisp shortbread base.
… to which was added some salted butter caramel {adapted from Jamies sweet blog}, the top smothered in deep, luscious, dark melted chocolate; then briefly left to set! Simple as can be. Next with my Ergo chef knife, the slab was cut into squares {you can do bars/rectangles…whatever grabs your fancy}. YUM! ENJOY!
“I’ve waffled before. I’ll waffle again.”
Howard Dean
Guess what? This morning I made some of the best and fastest cookies of my life. It was a chance find as I was on a food pictures website where these absolutely CUTE cookies caught my eye – Wookies by Beau Dealy @ Something Edible. I was up in a jiffy, dusting the cobwebs off my treasured Belgian waffle maker. In next to no time I had Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Chip Wookies!
SIMPLE UNIQUE DARN TASTY REALLY DARNED TASTY
These are a variation on an original recipe of Pennsylvania Dutch Cinnamon Waffle Cookies that were elevated to charmingly delicious levels by this very talented blogger. A result of his hard work and experimentation, his version offer a festive and interesting maple icing glaze. You must read his post.He describes the vital statistics behind the dough, its consistency, the timing, his experiences, along with step by step pictures; very worth the read. If I had original maple syrup in my larder I would have made his variation.I skipped the cinnamon in the dough and the glaze too, adding chocolate chips to the sticky dough instead. I was really curious to see how these would come out. My Belgian waffle maker is a few years old, one that my lil’ sis from the US gifted me. It ran on the standard American voltage of 120V until the wiring was redone by my adventurous engineer father to our local Indian voltage of 220V. Don’t ask me what he did, but it works!The recipe worked beautifully!! Just as we heaved a sigh of relief thankful for a very smooth, largely power cut free summer, we’ve been cursed with incessant power cuts this season. Come winter, foggy, bone chilling days at 6-7 degrees C, and the power is playing truant. Baking sometimes seems a pain with no uninterrupted power supply. That’s why these yummy looking two minute cookies called my name.My word, were they good?CRISP GOOD! The daughter was home early after her exam and LOVED them. The son got a couple with his mug of milk when he got in from school. “Just 2 please“, I thundered. I had a journalist and his photographer coming in later that afternoon for an interview and photoshoot for a local daily. “MUST save some for them!” They were destined to be shared and finished by afternoon. The visitors loved the wookies and also the above orange olive oil buttermilk pound cake I baked. Told me these were the best cookies and cake they had eaten. The daughter said I must open a shop for unique baked goods. I was chuffed … so much praise for speedy cookies and cake. {The wookies and cake were both made in the fast lane by tossing the ingredients into the Thermomix}.So if you have that waffle maker waiting in the wings, reach out for it, mix the dough and serve up some deliciousness in minutes. I figure you can make the cookie dough in advance and serve fresh cookies this holiday season. They are quite soft when just out {handle with care as you take them out of the waffle maker as they are tender}, but they crispen in minutes. I contemplated glazing mine with a coffee sugar glaze, but changed my mind when I tasted the first one. It seemed sweet enough sans a glaze. Next time I might decrease the sugar in the cookie dough and add a glaze. Its a wonderful versatile cookie. Now I am wondering if there might be savoury way around this. I would love a cheesy savoury wookie like this. Any thoughts anyone?
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These holiday cookies are on the way to Suma’sCakes And More Cookie Fest where she says “None of us remain immune to the spirit of baking during the Christmas season, even the hesitant baker turns on the oven for sure. So, do bake me some cookies – chewy, crispy,flaky or crunchy – anything from gooey brownies to crunchy biscotti to delicate tuiles to flaky batons – I shall gobble them all!” All yours to gobble Suma!!
“Without garlic I simply would not care to live.”
Louis Diat
It continues to be a busy month, where blogging seems to get to the back burner even though it rules my mind 24 X 7. In the midst of this, it’s time for the SRC, an event that I am committed to; a deadline that cannot be missed! So here on fast track is a beautiful and delicious Creamy Roasted Red Bell Pepper Dip from my assigned secret blog – Sweet Beginnings… a blog about sweet, sugary treats, and home cooked meals.
The Secret Recipe Club, the brainchild of Amanda of Amanda’s Cookin’. The idea behind the club – Each month you are “assigned” a participating food blogger to make a recipe from. It’s a secret, so don’t tell them you are making something from their blog! Click on the link if you want to join the fun!!
Of late, the festival season has piled loads of sweet stuff upon our delighted palettes. So I explored Jaidas blog for savoury stuff, and happily, I found plenty! Loads of wonderful seafood, fish, chicken; posts tagged with inspiration of all sorts – Asian, vegetarian, What’s Baking, appetizers and then this wonderful creamy bell pepper dip which she served with a grilled chicken ‘sammich’.The grilled chicken sammich sounded just wonderful and I think what made it really stand out was this creamy red pepper sauce the talented girl created for a recipe swap. Of the sauce she says, ” The sauce is super-delish and also goes great with burgers…you should try it ASAP!” I did and it was yum!Festival season, school holiday on every other day for one reason or another, a wedding in the family, the hub BUSY at work … and me dog tired like never before. Yet I snatched a moment yesterday to make crackers as the kids were feeling deprived that their Mama doesn’t seem to bake that much any more.These are crisp easy breezy crackers from a Mark Bittman recipe that I adapted to include some whole wheat flour. It’s a wonderful basic recipe that is takes well to any flavour you might like. I used garlic and dried herbs, and next time might do sesame, or sea salt with black pepper, poppy seeds … or maybe the bagel spice I used on these Same Day New York Bagels. The creamy roasted red bell pepper dip {sauce} is just what I wanted as a pairing for these crackers. Vibrant and delicious, I loved the way Jaida added cream cheese to it! I used a local substitute {cheese spread} and skipped the mayo as the dieting diva was dancing on my head!It still was every bit delicious as it looks. Simple and addictive, its a great sauce/dip for burgers, sandwiches, crackers, fresh veggies, crudites and possibly even wraps! I adapted the recipe a bit, and I’m glad I got inspired to follow Jaida’s basic creation.Add some balsamic or go with the mayonnaise, and do make sure you add the cream cheese … then sit back and enjoy! My kids loved these to bits. Crisp whole wheat crackers and finger licking good creamy roasted red bell pepper dip … healthy and addictive!
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“Coffee is a way of life!”
Sunalini Menon, India’s coffee ambassador
Regular readers of my blog need no introduction to my all time favourite flavour … COFFEE! It’s my first love in food that shows up in layered cakes, cookies, biscotti, panna cotta, ice cream and so much more. Coffee makes the beginning of my every morning bright, so you can imagine my excitement when I got an invite to meet India’s Coffee Baroness, Sunalini Menon.She was in Delhi to conduct an exclusive coffee cupping and food pairing session to unveil Café Coffee Days {CCD} latest premium coffee, Mysore Royal, that she had created for India’s leading coffee café chain. Walking into CCD that morning transported me into a space I love best. Give me a quite café any day, filled with lilting coffee aromas, the buzz of experienced baristas perfecting the much needed cuppa, the ambiance.
Mysore Royale is an aromatic Arabica coffee grown on the ancient slopes of the Bababudan Mountains near Bangalore, the historic mountain which has seen the journey of the elixir of life, coffee. Bringing this unique majestic brew to life is credited to Ms Menon, the connoisseur, the artist. Speaking on this new blend, India’s coffee ambassador says, “With flavours of bittersweet chocolate, caramel and the whisper of rich, ripe fruits, with flecks of sweetness, Mysore Royal is a full bodied wholesome rounded cup with lilting brightness to make you feel like royalty.
The experience was mesmerising, nothing short of magical. Just the name transported you into smooth luxury, a blend that announced its class. What else would you expect from a label that entices you with bittersweet chocolate, caramel and hints of rich, ripe fruit owed to the enthralling diversity of the Rajgiri plantation. I don’t consider my self a ‘coffee literate’ person by any standards and hence my intrigue into the coffee cupping session that morning.The super talented, soft spoken, warm lady is a virtual coffee encyclopedia. She knows the coffee bean inside out {each layer of ‘the fruit’ it comes from}, each strain by the name or number, is well versed with coffees from Ethiopia, Uganda, Vietnam, Brazil, Columbia, knows leaf viruses that attack plants and equally well the inventors of different coffee making machines. Her journey into the coffee cup covered all that and more – the viscosity and the texture, blends, origins, plantations in India, fair trade representation, barista coffee competitions … and so much more!She demonstrated five different techniques of brewing Mysore Royal – Indian Filter {dabba filter}, French Press, Stove Top Espresso, Siphon and Electric Drip Coffee Maker, each altering the taste of the coffee, giving the taste buds a different treat. She’s been in this line for over 30 years and is responsible for putting Indian coffee on the global map.Talk tea and you think India. That seems to be about to change with the energy the lady has unleashed on the coffee front. Our greatest strength seems to lie in ‘gourmet‘ or ‘premium’ coffee. Sunalini also treated us to pairings with the coffee, spoiling us with crisp oatmeal honey cookies, light cheesecake, deep divine warm brownies, hummus surprise sandwiches among others … all from the café.I think this robust coffee will pair well with food like Lime Buttermilk Pound Cake, New York Style Bagels, Espresso Coffee Cream Cake, Chocolate Almond Olive Oil & Whole Wheat Biscotti, Whole Wheat & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ulyana’s Almond Cake {fat free}, Stone Fruit Tea Cake and of course macarons! You could tell the magic worked on me. I was back home and brewing Mysore Royal for Mr PAB {a true coffee lover too} thanks to the goodie bag with tins of Mysore Royal and the French Press from Cafe Coffee Day.Six ‘brewing’ minutes later, the aromas of the coffee awakened our senses, then the kids asked for their share. I brewed some more with hot milk, then chilled it for them for the next morning. Slurp, slurp! ‘This is really good Mama‘, could be heard for long. “Is there more? Please???” A step further, change of season and coffee drinking days are here, so of course I had to pack in some coffee for Mactweets, as this month, we celebrate the equinox with Macarons de la Saison! What heralds this season for you? For me, the nip in the air signals for that cup of coffee. I made a quick batch of Mysore Royal coffee macarons, picked the lilting flavours of bittersweet chocolate and coffee for the butter-cream within. NICE!!Paired beautifully with a well brewed cup of Mysore Royal. Coffee days are here again. With a blend that entices the palette with flavours of bittersweet chocolate, caramel and the whisper of rich, ripe fruits, would you be tempted to try some? I think we can tempt the firmest of tea drinkers to cross over and feel the magic that coffee has to offer!
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, you are most welcome to join us for the challenge. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally post the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
“If cookies be the food of love…munch on”
Dame Judi Dench
“Can you make some cookies tomorrow?” asked Mr PAB one evening. He often has long working hours, and travels more than before now, so likes to carry a ‘taste of home‘ with him. Was going to bake him some Wholewheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies or maybe sugar cookies. Then I saw that Abby Dodge had posted the August #baketogether round up for the Summer Fruit Cake with the September challenge – cookies.Double Chocolate Mousse Cookies it was destined to be!
Abby said, “I’ve tweeted, I’ve listened and I’ve decided it must be COOKIES!
Everyone loves cookies, right? I’ve brought along my little blue friend if you need convincing…you know I’ve got his vote, right? I offer up September’s #BakeTogether recipe! One bite of this cookie and filling is all you’ll need to help you assuage the burden of #Irene.. or whatever else ails you.”
How true her words were. One bite ensured cookie happiness, though for the first time in years I struggled with the consistency of the dough. This was not ‘cookie dough‘ as I normally make; this was a thick mousse-y dough. I reread and checked the recipe several times. Didn’t look like I had missed a step but I had this thick lava like dough. It gave me jitters, the sort you get while waiting for feet in macarons!I figured I would get pancakes with the dough so added another 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour. The dough was better, still not firm enough, but with the name Double Chocolate Mousse Cookies, I figured this is how it was probably meant to be.
I did a small test bake with 3 bits and much to my relief they held their shape well! Hope you enjoy my take on Abby’sDouble Chocolate Mousse Cookies. I substituted some plain flour with whole wheat flour to make them a bit healthier. The first round of cookies were cakey, softish, chewy, very very chocolaty … and a big hit at home!We enjoyed them sans filling but they were a tad soft to accompany Mr PAB on his journey, so I made some dough for the Wholewheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies. Then an idea struck me, and I popped a teeny ball of the wholewheat oat chocolate chip cookie dough in the center of some the mousse-y cookies and baked them again for 8-10 minutes. I double baked a few sans filling and later filled them with the bittersweet chocolate filling as below. Perfect! The second time around they weren’t softish thanks to the double bake and looked pretty too. A few double baked ones were lavished with the bittersweet chocolate filling. Double yum!! Those were equally delicious too, if not more, and devoured by cookie monsters that infest our home! One hopeful cookie monster was left looking on … “crumbless‘!! Poor little Coco … she’s my little shadow who lives in eternal hope of a cookie or two!
Featured Blogs is a weekly Friday post on the FoodieBlogroll site featuring favorites from The Foodie Blogroll! We do this so we can share in the rich diversity of what The Foodie Blogroll has to offer by featuring some of our favorites.
[print_this]Recipe: Double Chocolate Mousse Cookies
Summary: Minimally adapted from Abby Dodges #Irene Double Chocolate Mousse Cookie for #baketogether. They are cakey, softish, chewy, very chocolatey … and a big hit at home! Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes Ingredients:
For the chocolate cookies
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 + 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
85g bittersweet chocolate, melted
For the bittersweet chocolate filling
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
Method:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 180C. Line 2 or more cookie sheets with parchment or non-stick baking liners.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, wholewheat flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk until well blended.
In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar and cocoa powder and beat on medium speed until well blended, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and the beater. Add the eggs, one at a time mixing until blended after each addition. Add the vanilla along with the last egg. Continue mixing on medium until well blended, about 1 minute. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and mix until just blended, about 30 seconds. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until the mixture is well blended, about 1 minute.
Using a 2 tablespoon mini ice-cream scoop, shape the dough into balls and arrange about 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake, one sheet at a time, until the cookies are puffed and tops are cracked and look dry, about 11 to 13 minutes. {I baked them a second time for about 7-8 minutes as my cookies were still soft}
When the cookies are just out from the oven, make a small, deep well in the center of the cookies using the rounded side of a 1/2 teaspoon measure or the end of a thick handled wooden spoon. Let the cookies sit for 5 minutes then transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Fill the cookies and serve immediately or cover and keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month before filling and serving.
Make the filling and assemble the cookies:
Melt the chocolate and the butter in the microwave or in a medium melt bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring with a rubber spatula until smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside until cool and slightly thickened.
Scrap the chocolate mixture into a small zip-top heavy duty plastic bag (alternately, use a pastry bag fit with a small plain tip). Snip off a small piece of one corner and pipe the chocolate mixture into the wells of the cooled cookies. Set aside until chocolate firms up, about 1 hour. Serve immediately or cover and keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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Before I go I need to thank the very sweet Jehanna @ The Cooking Doctor for David Lebovitzs ‘The Perfect Scoop‘ that I won at her giveaway. It’s a book I have longed to own. There was also a ‘surprise’ package of coffee. As Jehanna says “Remember, your winning giveaway entry was coffee ice-cream, so to ‘commemorate’ that, I thought I’d include my most, most fav coffee so you can try it out for the ice-cream. I hope you like it, and cant wait for your ice-cream post“. This book is an ice cream Bible in every way, and paired with Davids style of writing and sense of humour, it keeps you hooked on to every word he writes. It’s virtually a ‘chilling’ entertainer’!Also thanks due to the good folk at ADF Soul Foods who sent me this HUGE gift hamper filled with delicious ready to eat Indian gourmet food. Even though we hardly ever eat prepackaged food at home, we’ve tried a few of them from ADF, and I have to say they are quite delicious. With no artificial preservatives and no trans fats, the ‘Just Heat & Eat‘ range, all natural and a 100% vegetarian, is ready to eat in two minutes.
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
Albert Schweitzer
These are cookies born out of thankfulness, inspiration and amazement at the constant love I receive from readers of my blog. This Chocolate Almond Olive Oil & Whole Wheat Biscotti is the delicious result of the cocoa that Sheetal mailed to me a few days ago. The package had things I love – stuff to bake with … muscovado sugar {my first bag ever}, baking chocolate and cocoa powder. Sheetal said she really hoped I would bake something with the stuff she sent me. … and promised to make the same at home far away!Might as well keep you busy Sheetal, so if you are done with the tart, here’s the next bake!I left the contents of the parcel on my table and looked at them every morning feeling a strange sense of inspiration and desire to bake. The muscovado sugar was the first bit I used, out of curiosity, in this absolutely divine Vanilla Plum Frangipane Tart. The muscovado made the frangipane earthy and different, pairing beautifully with the plums!The success of the Plum Frangipane Tart adventure inspired me to think cocoa. As the dieting diva is still swinging back and forth on her yo-yo diet {as I call it} I thought I’d do some biscotti! It’s been ages since I made some, and this time I adapted a David Lebovitz recipe of Chocolate Almond Biscotti that I had made earlier.Substituted some plain flour with whole wheat, and made the firm cookie like dough in my Thermomix. Reduced the sugar a bit, and I think I could further reduce it a little more the next time. The end result was wonderful; the whole wheat not taking any yumminess. Toasted almonds and chocolate chips do make for delicious biscotti. The teen and pre-teen were seeing visiting the cookie jar quite often while the cookies lasted!The Valrhona I used in my earlier biscotti, coincidentally was a gift from a sweet foodie blogger, Shayma @ The Spice Spoon. Hintz was what I used here, and it made this twice baked Italian cookie absolutely addictive. Do remember to use good quality cocoa.
Summary:An already healthy Italian cookie, made even healthier with the use of some whole wheat flour. Adapted minimally from David Lebovitz, this is an addictive biscotti for the cookie jar. Makes 30-35 cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 60 minutes Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cups top-quality cocoa powder {I used Hintz}
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 small eggs, at room temperature
1/8 cup extra light olive oil
3/4 cup vanilla sugar, or plain granulated
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped {optional}
1 cup almonds, toasted and very coarsely-chopped
3/4 cups chocolate chips {I used dark}
For the glaze
1 egg white
1 sachet vanilla sugar
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a cookie sheet with baking parchment.
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, olive oil, sugar, vanilla beans and vanilla extract. {Thermomix: Speed 4 / 7-8 seconds}
Fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the toasted chopped almonds and chocolate chips in the till well incorporated, and the cookie dough comes together. {Thermomix: Add the dry ingredients : Speed 3 / 10 seconds. If the dough is too firm, turn into a large bowl and add the nuts and chocolate chips. Mix to incorporate. Else, Reverse Speed 2 / 15 seconds}.
Divide the dough into half, and form into logs using slightly damp hands. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with vanilla sugar. Bake for 25 minutes or until the dough feels firm. Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes.
Slice and place sides down on the cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, turning the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies feel mostly firm.
